Tag Archives: small american flags made in america Hancock NH

The history of the United States is substantial and complex, but can be broken down right into milestones and time periods that split, combined, and changed the United States into the nation it is now. The American flag did not appear like it does currently. Besides that, it went through a lot of changes and also alterations.

The American Revolutionary War

Enter the American Revolution. In some cases described as the American War of Independence, or the Revolutionary War, it was a conflict which lasted from 1775-1783 and also enabled the original 13 colonies to stay independent from Great Britain. Starting in Great Britain in the late 1790s, the Industrial Revolution ultimately made its path to the United States as well as altered the emphasis of the nation’s economy and also the means it makes products.

For more than 10 years before the outbreak of the revolution in 1775, tensions had been building in between colonists and the British authorities. These stress emerged from expanding tensions in between residents of Great Britain’s 13 North American colonies and the early american government (which represented the British crown). Attempts by the British government to raise revenue by collecting tax from the colonies (especially the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Tariffs of 1767 and also the Tea Act of 1773) met with violent demonstration amongst several colonists, who disliked their absence of representation in Parliament and also required the same rights as various other British people. Colonial resistance caused physical violence in 1770, when British soldiers opened fire on a crowd of colonists, killing five men in what was referred to as the Boston Massacre. After December 1773, when a band of Bostonians dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded British ships then disposed 342 chests of tea right into Boston Harbor, an annoyed Parliament passed a series of steps (known as the Intolerable, or Coercive Acts) designed to reassert imperial authority in Massachusetts.

George Washington was made its commander in chief. Congress hoped they could require the British to work out however George III rejected to negotiate. Instead, in August 1775 he proclaimed that all the American colonies were in a state of rebellion.

By June 1776, with the Revolutionary War in progress, an expanding majority of the colonists had actually pertained to prefer self-reliance from Britain. That same year Richard Henry Lee of the Virginia Assembly presented Congress with resolutions stating the self-reliance of the colonies, asking for a confederation and also shared the have to discover foreign allies for a war against Britain. On July 4th, the Continental Congress elected to embrace the Declaration of Independence, drafted by a five-man board consisting of Franklin and John Adams however created mostly by Jefferson. By the autumn of 1781, the American army had managed to force the adversary to retreat to Virginia’s Yorktown peninsula, near where the York River clears into Chesapeake Bay. Supported by a French military led by General Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau, Washington moved against Yorktown with a total of around 14,000 soldiers, while a fleet of 36 French battleships offshore prevented British reinforcement or evacuation. Entrapped as well as overpowered, the adversary was required to surrender their entire army. Claiming disease, the British general sent his deputy, Charles O’Hara, to give up; after O’Hara approached Rochambeau to surrender his sword (the Frenchman deferred to Washington), Washington gave the nod to his own replacement, Benjamin Lincoln, who approved it. After French help aided the Continental Army require the British abandonment at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, the Americans had actually successfully won their independence, though fighting would not officially finish up until 1783.

Though the movement for American independence properly won at Yorktown, contemporary observers did not see that as the definitive victory yet. British forces continued to be posted around Charleston, as well as the powerful major military still stayed in New York. The British removal of their soldiers from Charleston as well as Savannah in late 1782 finally indicated the end of the conflict. British and also American arbitrators in Paris signed initial peace terms in Paris late that November, and on September 3, 1783, Great Britain formally recognized the freedom of the United States in the Treaty of Paris. At the same time, Britain signed separate peace treaties with France and also Spain (which had entered the dispute in 1779), bringing the American Revolution to a close after eight lengthy years.

Exactly how the American Flag came to be

The American flag was made to represent the brand-new union of the thirteen initial states: it would have thirteen stripes, alternating red as well as white, and thirteen stars, white on a blue area. One of the first flags had the stars laid out in a circle, based upon the concept that all colonies were equal. The thirteen stripes, laid out side-by-side, represented the battle for freedom; red stood for valor, white signified purity and also blue represented loyalty.

In 1818, after a couple of style changes, the United States Congress made a decision to maintain the flag’s initial thirteen stripes and add brand-new stars to show each brand-new state that got in the union.

While there is no doubt that the real Betsy Ross was worthy of interest in her own right, it is the legend of Betsy stitching the first stars and stripes that has actually made her an extraordinary historical number. The Betsy Ross tale was given spotlight in 1870 by her grandson, William Canby, in a speech he made to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Canby and also other participants of Betsy’s family authorized vouched testimonies specifying that they heard the story of the making of the very first flag from Betsy’s own mouth.

According to the dental background, in 1776, three men – George Washington, Robert Morris, and George Ross, saw Betsy Ross in her furniture store. On a piece of paper Washington showed, was a sketch of a flag with thirteen red and also white stripes as well as thirteen 6-pointed stars.

Washington asked if Betsy could make a flag from the design. Betsy reacted: “I do not know, yet I will try.” This line was made use of in the vouched statements of a lot of Betsy’s relatives, suggesting that it is a straight quote from Betsy. As the story goes, Betsy suggested changing the stars to five points as opposed to six. She demonstrated to them how to do it with just one snip of her scissors. They all accepted to change the style to have stars with five points.

However, some historians think that it was Francis Hopkisnon that brought to life the concept of the Stars and Stripes. Francis Hopkinson was a prominent patriot, a legal representative, a Congressman from New Jersey, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, poet, artist, and identified civil servant.

He was appointed to the Continental Navy Board on November 6,1776. It was while working on the Continental Navy Board that he turned his attention to making the flag of the United States. Making use of stars in that style is believed to have been the result of an experience in the war straightly pertaining to his propriety.

A book in Hopkinson’s library at his home in Bordentown was taken by a Hessian soldier in December 1776, a dark year of the battle. The book, Discourses on Public Occasions in America (London, 1762) by William Smith, D.D., had actually been a gift to him by the writer. The soldier, one I. Ewald, created on the inside cover that he had seen the writer near Philadelphia which he, Ewald, had taken the book from a fine nation seat near Philadelphia. The book was ultimately offered to somebody in Philadelphia who returned it to Hopkinson. The soldier had composed over and also listed below Hopkinson’s bookplate, which had 3 six pointed stars and his household adage, “Semper Paratus”, or “Always Ready”. The secure return of the book could well have represented to Hopkinson the resurgence of the Americans’ hope.

In a letter to the Board of Admiralty in 1780 Hopkinson asserted that he had actually developed “the flag of the United States of America” as well as a number of ornaments, devices, and checks appearing on bills of exchange, ship documents, the seals of the boards of Admiralty and Treasury, and also the Great Seal of the United States. Hopkinson had actually obtained nothing for this work, and now he sent a bill and asked “whether a Quarter Cask of the public wine” would certainly not be an affordable and also correct incentive for his labors.

Even so, nobody can be so sure that created the American flag. The American flag is the sacred symbol of the nation. It signifies the citizens’ birthright, their heritage of freedom bought with blood and also sorrow. The title deed of freedom, which is the country’s to enjoy as well as hold in trust for posterity. Infinite vigilance is the price of freedom. As you see the flag silhouetted against the serene skies of the country, you are reminded that the American flag stands for what you are – no more, no much less.

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?